Another new book

I (relatively) recently finished reading another good book; today I'm starting to excerpt from it.

AHA always has three ingredients. If any one of these ingredients is missing, it short-circuits the transformation process.

Here are the three ingredients:
1. A Sudden Awakening
2. Brutal Honesty
3. Immediate Action

Those three elements are always necessary for AHA to take place. If there is an awakening and honesty but no action, then AHA doesn’t happen. If there is awakening and action but no honesty, AHA won’t last.—AHA Student Edition electronic edition

<idle musing>
Just so you know, AHA is an encounter with God that has the potential to change your life. I say potential because it doesn't always do so. Over the years I've pondered why some people are transformed by it and others aren't.

Back in the early 1970s, during the height of the Jesus Movement, we used to say that people who became Christians for a short time and then fell away were "in it for the high." Once the high wore off—usually from 4-6 weeks later—they would disappear. I never understood why.

I've seen it happen lots of times since then, but I never understood why. How could someone encounter the living God and then walk away? It boggled my mind. Until I read this book. The quotation above sums up my experience over the last 40+ years. In every case where the "AHA" moment didn't stick, it was because they failed to follow through on either step 2 or step 3.

I've seen the same people encounter God over and over and not be transformed. That they would encounter God over and over again shouldn't surprise me, after all Augustine called the Holy Spirit the hound of heaven. But it does. I mean, come on, how many times does God have to open people's eyes before he gives up? Come on God, be reasonable!

I'm glad he doesn't give up though because more than once I've been the person who "just didn't get it."

I digress, but please consider the wisdom of these 3 little steps. And then look at your own life and see if God might not be prodding you to take step 2 or 3. And stay tuned for more excerpts : )
</idle musing>